| Read the 'value-based' passage given below and answer the questions that follow: |
| Nawab Wajid Ali Shah was dethroned and exiled to Calcutta on the plea that the region was being n-dsgovemed? The British government also wrongly assumed that Wajid Ali Shah was an unpopular ruler. On the contrary, he was widely loved, and when? he left his beloved Lucknow, there were many who followed him all the way to Kanpur singing songs of lament. The widespread sense of grief and loss at - the Nawab's exile was recorded by many contemporary observers. One of them wrote: ?Me life was gone out of the body, and the body of this town had been left lifeless ... there was no street or market and house which did not wail out the cry of agony in separation of Jan-i-Alam? One folk song bemoaned that ?the honourable English came and took the country?. |
| (Angrez Bahadur ain, mulk lai linho). |
| Questions: |
| (a) Why did people bemoan show an emotional upheaval at? Explain. |
| (b) What human values are revealed in the above passage? |
| Explain why Abdur Razzak, a Persian Ambassador, was greatly impressed by the fortification of Vijayanagara Empire during the 15th century. |
| Or |
| Explain the ways through which Mughal village Panchayats and village headmen regulated rural society. |
| Explain how Indian partition was a culmination of communal politics that started developing in the opening decades of the 20th century. |
| Or |
| Explain how the Constitution of India protects the rights of the Central Government and the States. |
| Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow: |
| A ryot petitions |
| This is an example of a petition from a ryot of the village of Mirajgaon, Taluka Karjat, to the Collector, Ahmednagar. Deccan Riots Commission: |
| The sowkars (sahukars) have of late begun to oppress us. As we cannot earn enough to defray our household expenses, we are actually forced to beg of them to provide us with money, clothes and grain,, which we obtain from them not without great difficulty, nor without their compelling us to enter into hard conditions in the, bond. Moreover the, necessary clothes and grain are not sold to us at cash rates? |
| The prices asked from us are generally twenty-five or fifty per cent more than demanded from customers making ready money payments ... The produce of our fields is also taken by the sowkars, who at the time of removing it assure us that it will be credited to our account, but they do not actually make any mention of it in the accounts. They also refuse to pass us any receipts for the produce so removed by them. |
| (a) What kind of injustice was experienced by the ryots? |
| (b) Why was the harvest taken away by the money lenders and why was it not credited to the peasant's account? |
| (c) Give details on the commission that investigated petitions and grievances of the concerned people. |
| Or |
| Ordinary life in extraordinary times |
| What happened in cities during the months of Revolt? How did people live, through those months of tumult? How was normal life affected? Reports from different cities tell us about the breakdown in routine activities. Read these reports from the Delhi Urdu Akhbar, 14 June 1857: |
| The same thing is true far vegetables and saag (spinach). People have been found to complain that even kaddu (pumpkin) and baingan (brinjal) cannot be found in the bazaars. Potatoes and arvi (yam) when available are of stale and rotten variety, stored from before by farsighted kunjras (vegetable growers). From the gardens inside the city some I produce does reach a few places but the poor and the middle class can only lick their lips and watch them (as they are earmarked for the select) |
| .....There is something else that needs attention which is causing a lot of damage to the people which is that the water - carriers have stopped filling water. Poor Shurfas (gentility) are seen carrying water in pails on their shoulders and only then the necessary household tasks such as cooking, etc. can take place. The halalkhors (righteous) have become haramkhors (corrupt), many mohallas have not been able to earn for several days and if this situation continues then decay, death and disease will combine together to spoil the city's air and an epidemic will spread all over the city? and even to areas adjacent and around. |
| (a) Explain what happened in Delhi city during the months of the 1857 Revolt? |
| (b) How did people live through those months of tumult? |
| (c) How did the routine activities disturb the people? |
| Read the passage given below and answer the questions that follow ?Moistening the rose garden of fortune? |
| In this extract Abu?l Fail gives a vivid account of how and from whom he collected his information: |
| ... to Abu?l Fazi, son of Mubarak ... this sublime mandate was given. ?Write with the pen of sincerity the account of the glorious events and of our dominion-conquering victories ... Assuredly, I spent much labour and research in collecting the records and narratives of His Majesty's actions and I was a long time interrogating the servants of the State and the old members of the illustrious family. I examined both prudent, truth-speaking old men and active-minded, right actioned young ones and reduced their statements to writing. The Royal commands were issued to the provinces that those who from old service remembered, with certainty or with adminicle of doubt, the events of the past, should copy out -the notes and memoranda and transit them to the court. (Then) a second command shone forth from the holy Presence-chamber- to wit-that the materials which had been collected should be ... recited in the royal hearing, and whatever might have to be written down afterwards, should be introduced into the noble volume as a supplement, and that such details as on account of the minuteness of the inquiries and the minutae of affairs, (which) could not then be brought to an end, should be inserted afterwards at my leisure. |
| Being relieved by this royal order - the interpreter of the Divine ordinance - from the secret anxiety of my heart, I proceeded to reduce into writing the rough draughts (drafts) which were void of the grace of arrangement and style. I obtained the chronicle of events beginning at the Nineteenth Year of the Divine Era, when the Record Office was established by the enlightened intellect of His Majesty, and from its rich pages, I gathered the accounts of many events. Great pains too, were taken to procure the originals or copies of most of the orders which had been issued to the provinces from the Accession up to the present-day ... I also took much trouble to incorporate many of the reports which ministers and high officials had submitted, about the affairs of the empire and the events of foreign countries. And my labour-loving soul was satiated by the apparatus of inquiry and research. I also exerted myself energetically to collect the rough notes and memoranda of sagacious and well - informed men. By these means, I constructed a reservoir for irrigating and moistening the rose garden of fortune. |
| (The Akbar Nama) |
| (a) Who was Abul Fazi? |
| (b) Enumerate the sources he used to compile his work. |
| (c) Name any two administrative and two literary projects compiled by him at the order of Emperor Akbar. |
| Or |
| Kings and traders |
| Krishnadeva Raya (ruled 1509-29), the most famous ruler of Vijayanagara, composed a ?work on statecraft in Telugu known as the Amukuw Wyada. About traders he wrote |
| A king should improve the harbours of his country and so encourage its commerce that horses, elephants, precious gems, sandalwood, pearls and other articles are freely imported ... He should arrange dial the foreign sailors who land in his country on account of storms, illness and exhaustion are looked after in a suitable manner. |
| Make the merchants of distant foreign countries who import elephants and good horses be attached to yourself by providing them with daily audience, presents and allowing decent profits. Then those articles will never go to your enemies. |
| (a) Who was the most famous ruler of Vijayanagara and why? |
| (b) Mention the name and theme of the work compiled by him. |
| (c) Why do you think the King was interested in encouraging trade? Explain. |
| Read the passage given below and answer the questions that follow: |
| Buddhism In practice |
| This is an excerpt from the Sum Pitaka and. contains the advice given by the Buddha to a wealthy householder named Sigala: |
| In five ways should a master look after his servants and employees ... by assigning them work according to their strength, by supplying them with food and wages, by tending them in sickness; by sharing delicacies with them and by granting leave at times ... |
| In five ways should the clansmen look after the needs of Samanas (those who have renounced the world) and Brahmanas by affection in act and speech and mind, by keeping open house to them and supplying their worldly needs. There are similar instructions to Sigala about how to behave with his parents, teacher and wife. |
| (a) What advice was given by Buddha to Sigala regarding relationship between a master and his servants and employees? |
| (b) List the instructions given by Buddha to the clansmen for Samanas and Brahmanas. |
| (c) According to you what suggestion Buddha would have advocated regarding parents and teachers? |
| Or |
| A divine order? |
| To justify their claims, Brahmans often cited a verse from a hymn in the Rigveda known as the Purusha Sukta, describing the sacrifice of Purusha, the primeval man. All the elements of the universe, including the four social categories, were supposed to have emanated from his bod: |
| The Brahmans was his mouth, of his arms was made the Kshatriya. |
| His thighs became the Vaishya, of his feet the Shudra was born. |
| (a) How does Rigveda describe the sacrifice of Purusha? |
| (b) According to Rigveda how did the elements of universe and four social categories emanate? |
| (c) How did the Brahmanas enforce these norms? |
| On the given Political Outline Map of India mark and name the following: |
| (a) Kum |
| (b) Rajgir |
| (c) Magadha |
| (d) Avand |
| (e) Ujjain |
| Or |
| On the given political Outline Map of India, mark and name the following: |
| (a) Golconda |
| (b) Vijayanagar |
| (c) Mysore |
| (d) Quilon |
| (e) Tirunelveli |
| On the given political outline map of India five centres of the Revolt of 1857 are marked as 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5. Identify them and write their names on the line given against each on the map. |
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